The Center for Popular Democracy’s “Fed Up” campaign inspired a letter from Elizabeth Warren and 11 senators and 111 members of the House of Representatives to increase diversity at the Fed. They complain that: Currently, 92 percent of regional Bank presidents are white,…
Blog Archives
Noblesse Oblige
Spiderman has often spoken about the moral principle that power brings responsibility. Clint Hamada CC BY NC This moral principle is rarely taught in moral philosophy, but it is an important idea that was the basis for the principle of noblesse oblige. That…
Posted in Discrimination
How Americans sabotage welfare programs
Joseph Stromberg wrote an explainer about why the US has worse public transit than any other rich nation in the world despite providing greater subsidies per rider. It isn’t just because the US is more spread-out or more enthusiastic about…
Posted in Discrimination
Pew Stokes Racial Tensions While Median Wealth Stagnates
Yesterday the Pew Research Center released analysis based on new Fed data that shows that median black net worth is less than it was thirty years ago. Median net worth for whites has grown an average of about 1% over…
Lies (or Stupidity), Damned Lies (or Stupidity), and Statistics
A family member who has a history of opposition to efforts to reduce racial discrimination emailed me an article by Paul Sperry entitled, “Eric Holder believes all cops are racists…” Sperry claims that Holder’s efforts to reduce unconscious racial bias have…
Is It Harder For Poor Illiterate White Guys Or Rich Black Harvard Law Graduates To Get Arrested?
Bobby Constantino wrote an amazing story about how hard it was to get arrested as an educated white guy wearing the uniform of the upper-class, a suit and tie. It is well worth reading. He is a hero for the…
Posted in Discrimination, Labor
Economics of Slavery
There is a little bit of research on slavery that is buried in the back of some economics research by Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman (pdf). The slavery bit alone just floors me. Check out this graph of the total…
